Sunday, July 6, 2014

THE HARD TEACHINGS OF JESUS

Luke 617He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large
crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea,
from Jerusalem, and from the coast of Tyre and Sidon,18who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases.
Those troubled by evilspirits were cured,19and the
people all tried to touch him,because power was coming from him and healing them all.

20Looking at his disciples, he said:"Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom
of God.21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you
will be satisfied.Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude youand insult youand reject your name as evil, because of
the Son of Man.23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,because great is your reward in heaven.
For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.

24"But woe to you who are rich,for you have already received your
comfort.25Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.26Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers
treated the false prophets.

27 "But
I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless
those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone strikes you on one
cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him
from taking your tunic. 30 Give
to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not
demand it back. 31 Do
to others as you would have them do to you.

32 "If you love those who
love you, what credit is that to you? Even 'sinners' love
those who love them. 33 And
if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even
'sinners' do that. 34 And
if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to
you? Even 'sinners' lend to 'sinners,' expecting to be
repaid in full. 35 But
love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them
without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you
will be sons of the Most High, because
he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

37 "Do
not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and
you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to
you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be
poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will
be measured to you."

39 He also
told them this parable: "Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they
not both fall into a pit? 40 A student is not above his teacher, but everyone who is
fully trained will be like his teacher. 41"Why do you look at the speck
of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own
eye? 42 How can you
say to your brother, 'Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you
yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the
plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from
your brother's eye.

43 "No
good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its
own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or
grapes from briers. 45 The
good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the
evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of
the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

46 "Why do
you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47 I will
show you what he is like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into
practice. 48 He
is like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on
rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it,
because it was well built. 49 But
the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man
who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent
struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

Jesus
had just finished choosing His apostles from His many disciples or followers and
now the teaching would begin. He knew His time was short so He made every
moment a teaching moment so they could carry on His work when He left. Our time
on earth is short too and we need to be studying the words of Jesus and doing
what He tells us to do.

When
I was reading those verses maybe you were thinking to yourself that it’s just
too hard to do everything that Jesus said. His teachings certainly go against
most of what our society believes and sometimes even the way we were brought up.
These are commonly referred to as the ‘hard teachings of Jesus’.

Serving
the Lord and doing what He said to do is hard. It is a choice. The apostle Paul
said to take up our cross daily. Bearing a cross is hard work. It takes
sacrifice to live the way He wants me to live instead of living to please
myself. But it can be done with His help. God is looking for a people who are
willing to follow after Him. He will help us with the following. He’s looking
for willingness.

For a
few moments we are going to look at some of the hard teachings of Jesus.

#1
Jesus doesn’t promise a life of ease if you are His follower, His disciple.
Let’s go back to our scripture: 21Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.22Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude youand insult youand reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man.23"Rejoice in that day and leap for joy,because great is your reward in heaven.

Jesus said that you are blessed if you are
hungry now. He didn’t say that if you have enough faith you’ll never be hungry.
He said that you will be satisfied. He said that you will be blessed when
people hate you and exclude you and insult you and reject you because of your
relationship with Him. Have you ever felt rejected or excluded or even hated
because of your relationship with Christ? I know I have but Jesus tells us to
rejoice in that day and leap for joy because we know there is a better day
coming and we have a reward in heaven. It’s hard to leap for joy and be happy
when someone has been hateful towards us but it is a choice to follow Christ.
He reminds us not to look at what is happening to us here on the earth but to
keep our eyes fixed on Heaven and what a life we will have there.

#2 Jesus tells us to love completely. The
scripture says:27 "But I tell you who hear me: Love your
enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat
you. 29 If someone
strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your
cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what
belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Jesus didn’t
start this teaching with love your friends and family. That’s an easy love to
give. No, Jesus tells us to love our enemies and not just in thought or word
but with our actions as well. That’s where it gets hard, doesn’t it? He tells
us to do good to those who hate us and to pray for those who mistreat us. He
even tells us that if someone strikes us on one cheek to give them the other
one too. What He’s telling us here is not to put up walls when someone hurts
us.

Remember God is looking for willingness. He’s
looking for openness and complete love. When someone hurts us, it’s our natural
instinct to put up walls around ourselves to guard against it ever happening
again but we are called not to go by our natural instincts but to live by
super-natural instincts. God’s instincts that He teaches us through His word.
It’s hard to allow ourselves to be vulnerable but that is what He is asking us
to be and when we are He will be right there beside us, helping us along the
way.

In verse 35 Jesus repeats His command and
gives a promise: “But love your enemies,
do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back.
Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most
High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your
Father is merciful.”

Because our Father is kind to the ungrateful and
the wicked, we need to be too. We sing the song “make me more like thee Jesus,
make me more like thee”, do we really mean it? If we want to follow the hard
teachings of Jesus we need to be willing to be merciful to those who are
hateful towards us because He is merciful towards them.

#3
You get what you give. 37 "Do not judge, and you will not be
judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you
will be forgiven. 38 Give,
and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and
running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use,
it will be measured to you."

How many times
have you caught yourself judging someone else’s behaviour or choices? How many
times have you had a critical comment when someone’s name has been mentioned? I
think we have all fallen into that pit at one time or another, but it’s not
where a follower of Christ needs to be.

Jesus tells us
to mind our own business and allow Him to be the judge and jury over people’s
lives. He tells us to be free with our forgiveness. Don’t hold things against
people. Let it go! And He gives us a good reason to do this too: if we forgive
we will be forgiven. I don’t know about you but I know I need a lot of
forgiving so I choose to forgive others so I will be forgiven.

The last words
of this portion of Scripture sum it all up: “for with the measure you use, it
will be measured to you.” What measure do you use with others? We need to treat
others like we want God to treat us. We need to give to others like we want God
to give to us. We need to love others like we want God to love us. Do you get
the point? The measure that you use is the measure God will use toward you.
Just think of the possibilities of that promise. Doesn’t it make you want to be
more loving, more giving, more merciful? It does me.

#4 What kind of fruit do you have? 43 "No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good
fruit. 44 Each tree is
recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thorn bushes, or
grapes from briers. 45 The
good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and the
evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For out of
the overflow of his heart his mouth speaks.

Every tree is
recognized by its own fruit. We will be recognized as being a Christian by our
actions and our words. Jesus said that a good man brings good things out of the
good stored up in his heart and the evil man brings evil out of the evil stored
up in his heart. What’s in your heart? Jesus tells us that whatever is in our
heart will come out of our mouth. That’s why it is so important that we study
the Word and meditate on the things of the Lord and not fill our heads with
junk.

If you listen
to people speak, you can tell whether they are in the Word on a regular basis.
And no, I don’t mean that they go around quoting Scripture all the time. What I
mean is that their speech is sweet and it is seasoned with grace. They’re kind
towards others. They’re thankful for what the Lord has done for them. They
don’t tear people apart with their words. We are recognized as being a follower
of Christ by the fruit we bear.

#5 Who are
you…..really? We are all capable of putting on a pretty good front. We can fool
people into believing we are something we are not but we can’t fool God. As
Jesus was surrounded by His followers, He looked at them and said:

46 "Why do
you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47 I will show you what he is
like who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice. 48 He is like a man building a
house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came,
the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well
built. 49 But the one
who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built
a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that
house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete."

I believe that Jesus is asking us this same
question: Why do you call me, 'Lord,
Lord,' and do not do what I say? I have given you a
few of what are known as the hard teachings of Jesus. Are you doing what He
says to do or do you, like me, need to work on some areas of your life? Let me
encourage you to open your heart to the Lord and ask Him to help you work on
what needs improving.

The psalmist David said in psalm 139:23 “Search me, O
God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts”. Are you willing to pray the same prayer as David? And when
the Lord reveals things to you that you need to change, are you willing to bend
your will to His?

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About Me

My husband and I have been married over 30 yrs. We have two sons and a daughter, two daughters-in-law and a son in law. We love dogs and have 2 Basset Hounds, Duke and Maggie and a Cocker Spaniel named Lilly Rose. Life is great and full of surprises! God has blessed us with a great old farmhouse which was built in 1848. We're honored to be a part of its history. We have pastored a wonderful group of people on Cape Sable Island Nova Scotia Canada for almost 10 yrs. Our lives have been built on faith and family. God has had His hand on our lives all these years and everything we have comes from Him. We are blessed! I enjoy writing and speaking at women's conferences and ministering to the King's daughters. "Mama's Pages" is now print and available from me at lauriestewartpass@hotmail.com for $20. cdn or through lulu.com. There are four books completed at this time.